Looking for information on Stiletto

[moz19]

I recently bought a box of knives. These two came along in it. I don’t know anything about them. If anyone can share some knowledge with me. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you

[QGofLake]

Those are Asian made kit knives. I bet they kick pretty hard.

[moz19]

They seem to open fast if that is what you mean by kick.
Are they junk?

[QGofLake]

Indeed. Opening fast is that. They aren't the highest quality knives and many were made. Not high monetary value. Still cool for what they are.

[Killgar]

Definitely Asian like QGoflake said. But I don't believe they are kit knives because kit knives tend to have screw pivots that allow just about anyone to assemble the knife. It would be a lot to expect the average person to properly peen a pivot pin.

The "sex pin" that holds the spring in place might give the impression that they are kit knives, but that method of securing the spring is not an uncommon characteristic on Asian stilettos, particularly Taiwanese stilettos. The "Milano" marked stilettos are another example of this (pic below). Very similar to the "Stiletto" marked stilettos.

[moz19]

Thanks for the information.

[Madmarco]

Definitely Asian like QGoflake said. But I don't believe they are kit knives because kit knives tend to have screw pivots that allow just about anyone to assemble the knife. It would be a lot to expect the average person to properly peen a pivot pin.

The "sex pin" that holds the spring in place might give the impression that they are kit knives, but that method of securing the spring is not an uncommon characteristic on Asian stilettos, particularly Taiwanese stilettos. The "Milano" marked stilettos are another example of this (pic below). Very similar to the "Stiletto" marked stilettos.

That was good information, KG, thanks. I had always attributed the larger "sex pin", below the safety on these knives, as belonging to the Edge Co. kits from the 80's. I was under the impression they came with EITHER the screw pivot, or, the s-pin, not both, but you stated a valid point that it isn't uncommon in certain knives. I learned something today.
How are you doing, buddy, we haven't spoke in awhile and it's good hearing from you?

[Killgar]

That was good information, KG, thanks. I had always attributed the larger "sex pin", below the safety on these knives, as belonging to the Edge Co. kits from the 80's. I was under the impression they came with EITHER the screw pivot, or, the s-pin, not both, but you stated a valid point that it isn't uncommon in certain knives. I learned something today.
How are you doing, buddy, we haven't spoke in awhile and it's good hearing from you?

Hey there MM . I'm doing well, and I hope you are too. I visit here every day, I just don't always log in.

In regards to the use of the "sex pin" for the spring, the Taiwanese are still using it today. First pic below is from a Taiwanese manufacturing site currently offering fully assembled switchblades for sale in bulk.

As for the screw pivots on Edge Co. knives, I've added a pic of a few of the early Italian-made Edge Co. stilettos (made by Armando Beltrame, distributed by Frank Beltrame). Of course the visibility of the screw in a pic all depends on from which direction the owner installed the pivot, and which side of the knife is shown as the other side of the pivot looks like a solid pin. Later versions of the Edge Co. stilettos were made in Taiwan and only came with plastic scales. Those are lower quality than the Italian versions, but they had the same construction (screw pivots and two-piece sex pin).

The manual Edge Co. stilettos came fully assembled with a standard pivot pin, but it's my understanding that none of the Edge Co. stilettos switchblades came with a standard pivot pin. They were all sold without the blades and springs installed in an attempt to skirt import laws, and they all came with screw pivots and two-piece sex pins for the springs.

I've seen a variety of stiletto switchblade kits from different manufacturers, but I don't recall ever seeing any with a standard pivot pin that the buyer would need to peen themselves. They all had screw pivots.

For anyone wondering why it's called a "sex pin", it's because the "pin" is actually a two-piece rivet, a solid "male" piece, and a tubular "female" piece, and the male piece is pressed into the female piece. Although, on the non kit stilettos, the pin may actually be a solid pin peened at the factory during assembly since the knife doesn't need to be assembled by the average person.

[Madmarco]

Much thanks for that in-depth explanation, KG, now I have the facts straight and can pass on accurate information should anyone ask. I had a vague idea of how it works, but didn't know which company did which, who does only pins, who does only screw pivots, etc., and now I know.
The one such knife I have has both and is stamped "Edge Co.", and looks very much like the top knife in your 2nd set of pictures, so I was assuming they were all the same. It's somewhere at the bottom of the pile or I'd post pictures, but when I come across it again I'll post them then.
I just noticed that all the knives in your first set of pics have a solid rivet as the pivot, an oversized "sex pin" to hold the spring in, and no nail-nics, whereas in the 2nd set of pics they all have the works, screw, "sex pin", and, nail-nic. I guess the maker of those was almost expecting the springs to break so they made it easy to replace, and even use with the nic in the meantime. Interesting stuff.
Again, good hearing from you, buddy!

[Killgar]

Much thanks for that in-depth explanation, KG, now I have the facts straight and can pass on accurate information should anyone ask. I had a vague idea of how it works, but didn't know which company did which, who does only pins, who does only screw pivots, etc., and now I know.
The one such knife I have has both and is stamped "Edge Co.", and looks very much like the top knife in your 2nd set of pictures, so I was assuming they were all the same. It's somewhere at the bottom of the pile or I'd post pictures, but when I come across it again I'll post them then.
I just noticed that all the knives in your first set of pics have a solid rivet as the pivot, an oversized "sex pin" to hold the spring in, and no nail-nics, whereas in the 2nd set of pics they all have the works, screw, "sex pin", and, nail-nic. I guess the maker of those was almost expecting the springs to break so they made it easy to replace, and even use with the nic in the meantime. Interesting stuff.
Again, good hearing from you, buddy!

You're welcome .

That first pic (Taiwanese knives with the different colored handles) are sold as fully assembled knives. The only stiletto kits I know of that are still being produced are the little "Magic Knife" kits being sold by SKM.

I think you're right about the nail nicks. Probably there in case the spring breaks. Seeing as how the knives came from Italy and then Taiwan I imagine replacement springs would be difficult to impossible to come by. Of course a person could always just press the button and wrist flick the knife open.

I don't know why the Taiwanese (and maybe some Chinese makers) still use what looks like a sex-pin for the spring on fully assembled knives. Maybe it's simply a matter of, they have the tooling to do it that way, that's the way the particular manufacturer has always done it, so they don't see any reason to change. Who knows.

Good talking with you my friend .

[QGofLake]

Thank you Kilgar for sharing. Since joining this board, I have learned quite a lot from your excellent posts. If you wrote a book, no doubt it would be an excellent one!

[QGofLake]

Definitely Asian like QGoflake said. But I don't believe they are kit knives because kit knives tend to have screw pivots that allow just about anyone to assemble the knife. It would be a lot to expect the average person to properly peen a pivot pin.

The "sex pin" that holds the spring in place might give the impression that they are kit knives, but that method of securing the spring is not an uncommon characteristic on Asian stilettos, particularly Taiwanese stilettos. The "Milano" marked stilettos are another example of this (pic below). Very similar to the "Stiletto" marked stilettos.

That was good information, KG, thanks. I had always attributed the larger "sex pin", below the safety on these knives, as belonging to the Edge Co. kits from the 80's. I was under the impression they came with EITHER the screw pivot, or, the s-pin, not both, but you stated a valid point that it isn't uncommon in certain knives. I learned something today.
How are you doing, buddy, we haven't spoke in awhile and it's good hearing from you?

I was in the same boat Mark. Hope you are doing well.

[moz19]

Thanks for the in-depth explanation and information.
If anyone is interested in buying these, I have no interest in them.
PM me.

Thanks.

[Madmarco]

Definitely Asian like QGoflake said. But I don't believe they are kit knives because kit knives tend to have screw pivots that allow just about anyone to assemble the knife. It would be a lot to expect the average person to properly peen a pivot pin.

The "sex pin" that holds the spring in place might give the impression that they are kit knives, but that method of securing the spring is not an uncommon characteristic on Asian stilettos, particularly Taiwanese stilettos. The "Milano" marked stilettos are another example of this (pic below). Very similar to the "Stiletto" marked stilettos.

That was good information, KG, thanks. I had always attributed the larger "sex pin", below the safety on these knives, as belonging to the Edge Co. kits from the 80's. I was under the impression they came with EITHER the screw pivot, or, the s-pin, not both, but you stated a valid point that it isn't uncommon in certain knives. I learned something today.
How are you doing, buddy, we haven't spoke in awhile and it's good hearing from you?

I was in the same boat Mark. Hope you are doing well.

I am, my friend, and hope the same for you!